Case Number 09258

NEW POLICE STORY

The Charge

A new breed of crime.

Opening Statement

Jackie Chan is back in the latest, and most likely the last, installment of
his incredibly popular Police Story series. What made this latest (and
fifth) effort most interesting is that on initial inspection it felt that it was
ironically taking an almost Rocky V approach to its story in that here's
a character that was at the height of his game and is now shown as a washed up
has been. This is a Jackie with lines and creases in his face; a Jackie who
crawls into a bottle to blot out painful memories; a Jackie who hits rock bottom
and reluctantly has to claw his way back on top. In other words it's a character
piece, something the previous four installments never really delved into too
deeply. It's also a lot darker than the previous films in the series, going for
hard drama instead of laughs. Remember, we're now at a point when Jackie's
martial arts abilities and death-defying stunts have been mimicked so
mercilessly by other films that you no longer have to wait for a new Jackie Chan
vehicle to see them. So how does this intentional break from formula stack up
when compared not only to previous efforts but also from all the other martial
art, stunt-filled titles crowding the DVD market? That, my friends, is the real
case we're here to crack.

Facts of the Case

After a gang of cop-hating, video game-playing bank robbers slaughters his
entire team, Jackie leaves the force, drinks heavily, and refuses to forgive
himself for their gruesome deaths. Found lying in a drunken stupor in a
rain-drenched gutter by his new partner, Jackie is reluctantly forced to put the
past behind him in order to find, confront, and apprehend this gang before they
can kill even more cops.

The Evidence

Before we even get into the movie, there's one thing that needs to be said:
what's up with subtitles that repeat the same words in English that are already
written in English on screen? If there's a freakin' building in the background
with the words "Bank of Asia" clearly written in English on it then
why in the world do we need to see the words "Bank of Asia" pop up on
screen? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, and if anything, takes
attention away from other stuff in the scene that's more important. Same goes
for scenes where characters are clearly talking in English. Guess what? They're
already talking in English!! No need for a translation. Get with it subtitle
people!

Whew. Just needed to be said, that's all. Okay, on with the review.

New Police Story starts in the present, works its way into a
flashback, comes back into the present and then ends with an even earlier
flashback. Important? Not really. Except for the last scene, the whole movie
could have been played within normal continuity. Only if it did, you wouldn't
know up front that this was a different kind of Jackie Chan Police Story
you're watching. And that's what makes New Police Story so interesting.
Up until now, Chan was Supercop. Sure he bumbled and fumbled about during
his cases every now and then but no one got seriously hurt, and Jackie always
won out in the end. Not so with New Police Story.

This film gets dark. The scene that sets up the whole premise -- where Chan
and his squad hit the warehouse where these culprits hang and are systematically
taken out -- is positively unsettling. You never really get to know the members
of Chan's team except for a few token lines here and there (let's face it, they
might as well have be wearing red Starfleet shirts and beamed down with Kirk and
Spock to some remote planet -- that's how much of a chance they had of
surviving) but you still feel for them in how they're basically mere playthings,
cattle being herded to the slaughterhouse, to be wiped out whenever and however
their captors wish. And if it wasn't bad enough that these men were all under
Jackie's command, to make matters even more personal, one of them was going to
be his brother in-law. That's right, his fiancée's brother was killed right
under Jackie's protective glare. Now if that doesn't get you sucking back Jack
on the rocks by the bucketful, nothing will.

And that's where we're first introduced to him -- drinking. After which we
see him stumbling. Then throwing up. Then falling. And then lying faced down in
the gutter. It's not that you don't feel for the man -- even before you find out
how he got this way -- it's just that there's something 'clownish' about
Jackie's performance in these scenes. Now anyone who has ever seen a Jackie Chan
movie knows how integral this side of his performance is to his ongoing
popularity. Only here, this probably wasn't what he was going for. It's not a
bad performance, it just feels, well, exaggerated, like a guy playing sloppy
drunk instead of being sloppy drunk. A much better scene is when Jackie finally
sees his fiancée (Charlie Yeung) again after what went down. It appears
many months have passed since they have seen each other and it's obvious just
how ashamed, guilty, and in pain he is. In fact, other than the drunkenness and
certain over the top moments during the ambush, Chan handles drama really
well.

As you can see, New Police Story is more than just case gone wrong,
cop finds redemption. There are subplots galore, the first one being the
relationship between Jackie and his girlfriend. The second is the relationship
between Jackie and his new partner. The third is between the key villain and his
stepfather; and the fourth is between Frank, Jackie's new partner and Sasa, a
technician in the Hong Kong Police Department. It's enough to make you drink. Do
all these subplots come to satisfying conclusions? Yes and no. Oh, like you were
expecting a resounding "you betcha"? Please.

Take Jackie's new partner Frank (or Fung as he's called in the IMDb -- darn
you subtitle people, DARN YOU!!!); here's the guy who finds Jackie sprawled out
on the street lying in his own viscous bile. There's obviously something going
on with this guy -- and no, you won't find any spoilers (not big ones anyway).
As played by Nicholas Tse, Frank (or Fung) is a young, smart, wily dude who
obviously has a case of hero worship when it comes to the Chan man. He's also
not bad when it comes to kicking ass. But that's not what he's here for. Frank
is here to play Jackie's conscious and give him a reason to get back on the
case. He's here to give Jackie someone to look after, someone he can protect in
a way that he couldn't his fallen team. So does it matter that when we do learn
Frank's back-story we still don't really know why Frank would willingly risk his
life for Jackie? Not so much. But does it matter that after everything he goes
through, we never get a clear picture of what happens next? Actually in this
case yes, yes it does matter. Frank was simply too cool to be left hanging like
that. On a side note, he and Sasa (Charlene Choi) make a sweet couple.

You can't have sweet without the sour (and no, that's not meant to be a
Chinese food joke -- okay, not much of one) so that brings us to our villains.
These are rich, bored, sadistic thrill seekers. Killing cops is just another
video game to these kids. In fact, they turn the initial ambush into an online
game. Now that's cold. These late teens or early twenty-somethings are people
you can't help but hate. You want to hate them. You need to hate them. They give
you every reason to hate them. And then for some unknown inexplicable reason
New Police Story tries to make us feel sympathy for them. What is that?
Sure it sucks big time that gang leader Joe (Daniel Wu) hates his dad and for
good reason -- he beat him on a regular basis. It's also a good way of setting
up why he does what he does in his own sick and twisted mind. But did we really
need that little extra nugget of back-story? Couldn't he have just hated his
dad's abusive manner or something? Did we have to see the black and blue
bruises? Can't you just watch a movie and hate someone's guts anymore? If there
was ever a gang of killers you want to see punished in a brutal manner this
would be it -- and it could be argued that in the end they do get what they
deserve. Only they could have gotten more of it. After everything they did,
serious Rambo type retribution was needed; closure through unbelievable
violence. If that's what you're expecting (or hoping for) there's a good chance
that you're going to be disappointed.

Okay, all those niggly bits aside, New Police Story works; and it
works well. Which is really good news if you're Jackie Chan because in this age
of CGI and Honk Kong wirework it's important to have an actual movie to fall
back on now that the whole "does his own stunts" thing doesn't hold
the same awesomeness it once did. Not that that means Jackie doesn't still scale
walls like Spiderman or kick ass like a man twenty years younger. He
does. But sadly there's now a been-there-done-that quality to action scenes that
used to have jaws dropping to the floor. That's why it's so important that the
drama quotient has been upped. If you can't dazzle them with tricks, awe them
with intensity. And overall, that's exactly what New Police Story
does.

It also looks pretty good doing it too. The picture is a little soft every
so often and there are definite signs of pixilation, but they're nothing that
will take you away from enjoying the flick. The colour palette is very subdued
and on the cool side of the spectrum -- ideal for the story being told. As far
as sound goes, the 5.1 Cantonese track will fill your room with gunfire; that
much is certain.

There are extras included on the disc and it looks like they gave it their
best shot but truthfully, some of them were downright bizarre. The first two
that come to mind are the Jackie Chan introduction to the disc and the Jackie
Chan "Public Service Announcement" on piracy. On paper they might have
looked to be a good idea but on film, well, they just come off as if they
happened to have extra film in the camera and figured it couldn't hurt. The PSA
snippet comes off as just sad as a clearly exhausted Jackie pleads with you to
buy the original and not the pirate -- which when you think about it makes even
less sense considering you're watching this PSA on the disc anyway. So if you
did get the pirate, what? You'll feel so guilty that you'll run out and get the
original? Whatever. The making of piece was done with heart but there's nothing
here that gives any more insight into the film -- so again, its value is
negligible. Another extra are two scene specific commentaries, again, something
that could have been really interesting especially considering the two scenes
chose were the two big action pieces. But again, the end results left you
wanting more. The commentary for the bus scene in particular comes off really
oddly because Jackie barely talks about what's going on in the scene. Instead we
learn that Honk Kong filmmaking just doesn't have the budget that Hollywood
movies do. Mind blowing stuff.

The one really interesting extra is a sneak peek behind the dubbing process
as Jackie dubs his lines in English. Here at least we learn a bit about Jackie's
true feelings on American audiences, English in general, and the dubbing process
-- but if you really want to enjoy New Police Story stick with the
Cantonese track and English subtitles. It's great that Jackie does his own
dubbing but it appears that none of the other actors do. Watching the English
dub is the equivalent to watching pantomime narrated by hardcore caffeine
addicts, and that's just not right.

Closing Statement

Jackie Chan's New Police Story is a step in the right direction for
this aging action star. It's a gritty, tense, action thriller with enough
chop-socky and stunt work to satisfy his fan base with the addition of a true
characters, story, plot, and motivation for everyone else to enjoy.

The Verdict

New Police Story is found not guilty. However the folks responsible
for the bizarre extras are sentenced to three months detox. Case dismissed.